call for applications

Theme: When your Lips are my Ears, our Bodies become Radios

Curator: Jan Verwoert

Date: August 10-19, 2010 www.sommerakademie.zpk.org

Sommerakademie Zentrum Paul Klee

Bern

When your Lips are my Ears, our Bodies become Radios

Curated by Jan Verwoert

August 10-19, 2010

Call for Applications by 31 January, 2010



Date: August 10-19, 2010

www.sommerakademie.zpk.org

1

Table of Contents

Theme by Jan Verwoert 2

Concept 3

Objective and Structure 4

Application Procedure 5

Application Form 7

Questionnaire 8





2

When your Lips are my Ears, our Bodies become Radios When your Lips are my Ears, our Bodies become Radios When your Lips are my Ears, our Bodies become Radios When your Lips are my Ears, our Bodies become Radios

Jan Verwoert

Where can we meet?

What of the un-shareable is there to be shared?

It’s not that we have to meet. It’s not a must; but a possibility. To realize it, we would have to find a good place

and something worth sharing. The trouble is that most places are governed by protocols that tell you how to go

about meeting people. What is being shared there is therefore rarely worth sharing. At the end of the day, maybe

only the un-shareable is. Then how do you go about sharing it?

The Greeks went to the Stoa to share thoughts, uninhibited by protocol. The Stoa is a park in front of the house

or just outside the city. In this space neither the laws of the household, the Oikos, nor those of the market, the

Agora, fully apply. You can roam around freely in the Stoa. That’s why it was the place where Socrates could be

found, any day, walking about aimlessly, conversing with people, sharing their thoughts, questions and concerns -

all of them, particularly the stranger ones, the more existential ones, the potentially un-shareable ones. For in the

Stoa no holds are barred. This is the spirit out of which Academies were born. It will be summer. So, for a brief

moment, let’s walk about and create a Stoa!

Experience shows that the best way to avoid conventional protocol is to invent your own terms of engagement.

You need to formalize to then be able to improvize. So the formal brief will be simple: printed matter will be

produced, pictures will appear on posters in the city, and words or sounds will be aired, on each single day of the

Academy. So whatever we end up sharing, especially if it should be un-shareable (or brutally clear), may

potentially be considered worth taking to the public. As something will go to print or be broadcast the following

day, to collectively decide what was, or is, or may be worth sharing at the end of every day, will then become the

articulation of different minds, working not in unison, but sharing their difference, in the state of a Stoa.





3

Concept

The Sommerakademie 2010 focuses practically as well as philosophically on the following question: how does a

group develop a form of art production that is based neither on opposites like individual or collective production,

nor on the conventional separation between spaces of production, presentation and collection.

The main partner of the Sommerakademie will be the Zentrum Paul Klee, and in addition the Grand Palais

(www.grandpalais.ch), next to the Kunsthalle Bern in the centre of town.

The discussion of concepts of individualism and collective models of artistic practice usually ends in purely

ideological claims: the general moral argument that somehow collective work has to be progressive in itself, and

the rearguard action in which artists trying to justify their personal practice find themselves.

The present concept tries to avoid this ideological determination by launching the open idea of the Stoa.

The work process will reach its daily culmination in its formalization of a statement in three different media:

posters in the city, a radio broadcast and a daily newspaper. The place of discussion will turn into a space of

production and circulation. The presence in the Zentrum Paul Klee will be visible on a wall in front of the main

exhibition.

In the evenings the public will be invited to a number of lectures, film screenings or music events in the Grand

Palais next to the Kunsthalle Bern. The aim is to create, over a period of time, an atmosphere in which something

can accumulate, and the spirit of the event can be felt through the shared habitation of the space rather than

prefabricated social-engineering.

The graphic designer Stuart Bailey will participate in the process of designing the daily results.





4

Objective – Structure

Purpose and Objective

The Sommerakademie is an annual event, providing an international platform for contemporary art, and selecting

twelve international artists and/or curators to attend a ten-day workshop. Every year, a board of experts

nominates a new curator, who develops the theme. The Sommerakademie promotes artistic production and

reflection, as well as intensive high level networking between young artists, curators, speakers and nominators

from the international art world. Members of the public are invited to participate in a selection of events and

artistic processes. The Sommerakademie is held at the Zentrum Paul Klee, in cooperation with art institutions in

Berne.

The Sommerakademie is a foundation funded by, and part of the Cantonal Bank of Berne’s BEKBBCBE

commitment to training.

Theme, Curator and Speakers 2010

The title for 2010 is “When your Lips are my Ears, our Bodies become Radios”.

The curator, Jan Verwoert, is a critic based in Berlin. He is a contributing editor of Frieze magazine, writes for

different publications, and teaches art at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam.

He will be present throughout the academy, and is responsible for its running, as well as the content of the

programme. The Speakers are experienced artists, or qualified academics and theorists in the field of this year’s

theme. Among them will be Stuart Bailey, graphic designer and co-editor of Dot Dot Dot.





5

Application Procedure

Eligibility

Artists, curators or critics, who are graduates of an art academy or university, or who have an equivalent

qualification are eligible to participate. Furthermore, they have initial work experience. They should be under the

age of 35. Nominators are encouraged to invite suitable candidates to apply, and free applications are welcome.

For further information see: www.sommerakademie.zpk.org.

Selection Procedure

1. The deadline for applications is January 31, 2010.

2. The jury of experts selects twelve candidates whose applications correspond to the theme.

3. The decision is communicated to applicants and nominators in March 2010. Reasons for rejection will not be

communicated. Legal action is not possible.

Application Materials and Rights

The Application needs to be concise and in printed form. For details, see the Application Form. Please do not send

in originals. Incomplete, unsigned or late applications (date of postmark applies) cannot be considered.

Application materials will not be returned.

The Sommerakademie is entitled to use all materials made available by applicants for press work and advertising.

Conditions of Participation

The selected Fellows agree to participate regularly and actively in the Sommerakademie events for its entire

duration. The main language will be English. All Fellows are requested to provide a description of their artistic

position (maximum 500 words) by the end of May 2010.

These texts will serve as basic information for the preparation of the Sommerakademie.

Travel and Accommodation Expenses

The Sommerakademie will cover the direct travel expenses to and from Berne, consisting of a 2nd class rail ticket

or a reasonably priced flight. All travel arrangements must be made in agreement with the management team. The

Sommerakademie will not cover expenses for assistants, partners and children.

During the period of the Fellows’ stay, accommodation and joint meals are organized and paid for by the

Sommerakademie.

Fellows’ Presentations

Within the process-based concept, which focuses on the collective, there will be daily results – visual, text- or

audio-based. All preparatory work will be discussed with the curator.

Financial and technical details need to be approved by the management team.





6

Academy Programme

The academy programme will be developed by the curator, and consists of workshops, lectures, an excursion and

a sightseeing tour of Berne. A detailed programme will be provided upon arrival. Nominators will be present at

the closing event.

The Opening and Closing event will take place in the Auditorium of the Zentrum Paul Klee. Workshops and

lectures as well as public events will be held at the Grand Palais next to the Kunsthalle Bern in the centre of town.

Organization and Team

The Director of the Sommerakademie, Dr. Jacqueline Burckhardt is advised by the Board of Experts: Andreas

Fiedler, Sabina Lang, Prof. Dr. Beate Söntgen and Dr. Juri Steiner, Director of the Zentrum Paul Klee.

The Jury will make their decision on February 24, 2010. Members of the Jury are: the Director, the Board of

Experts, and the Curator.

Members of the Management team are: Barbara Mosca, Hélène Maloigne and Barbara Berger.

Alumni

All Fellows who have participated in the Sommerakademie become Alumni, and will be invited to Berne on

special occasions.





7

(A) Application to participate as a Fellow (artist, critic or curator) in the Sommerakademie

2010, August 10-19, 2010

First Name _________________________________________________________________

Surname / Family Name _________________________________________________________________

(As in passport)

Street / No. _________________________________________________________________

Postcode / Place _________________________________________________________________

Country _________________________________________________________________

Date of Birth ________________________ Place of Birth ____________________________

Gender m □ f □ Nationality ______________________________

Languages German □ English □ Other___________________________________

Telephone Number ________________________ Mobile__________________________________

Email Address(es) _________________________________________________________________

Website _________________________________________________________________

Areas of Work / Media _________________________________________________________________

Nominated by: First Name / Surname_________________

Institution _______________

This application must contain:

- Application form

- 2-page questionnaire

- CV with professional career and achievements to date

Supporting Material:

- A list of publications

- One CD, DVD or publication

- 4 Photographs documenting your work

I agree with the conditions of participation. I declare that the submitted documentation is of my own work,

and that the information in my CV is correct.

Place / Date _____________________________________ Signature________________________________ Please submit your application by January 31, 2010 (postmark): Sommerakademie, Zentrum Paul Klee, Monument im Fruchtland 3, PO Box, CH-3000 Bern 31, Switzerland





8

(B) Questionnaire

First Name / Surname _______________________________________________________________________ 1. How would you relate your work to the theme “When your Lips are my Ears, our Bodies become Radios”?





9

2. Explain your reasons for applying, your professional objectives during your stay at the Academy, as well as

your expectations with regard to the Sommerakademie 2010.

call for applications

Documents